Any-who I lured her out to my house with promises of a fabulous home cooked meal…and roasted beets (I turned her on to them a few years ago and now she’s in love)..and a homemade cake but THAT post will be on another day – I can only do so much people!

I decide to make her a lovely, juicy roast chicken, which, is actually so much more simple than people make it out to be.

Here is what I did..and big thank you to Matt who I roused from a nap to take pictures. Your so very wonderful dude 🙂

start by mixing your sagebrush blend with the salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.

Next, soften the butter in the microwave (I did 12 seconds at 50% power…works like a charm)

Peel and cut the carrots and onions. Please, cut your carrots smaller and thinner than I did as mine were still hard as rocks- oops.

Arrange the carrots and ONE of the onions in the bottom of a roasting pan. This will be the bed atop which your chicken will sit.

Now, time to deal with your chicken.

Place 2 layers of paper towel on a large cutting board.

Make sure to remove all of the jiblets from the chicken (they are often in a bag) and rinse the entire bird with cold water.

Move the bird to the paper towel lined cutting baord and using a few more paper towels, pat entirly dry.

Next, (this is the tricky part) lift up the skin covering the chicken breast and using your finger, seperate it from the meat.

Clearly I had Matt helping me with these pictures.

Now, rub some of the sagebrush mixture AND some butter on top of the breast, underneath the skin.

Ok, I know this looks gross and please ignore my pasty red hands but it makes for FANTASIC, flavorful chicken…don’t ignore this step!

See? All buttered and herbed.

Now, do the same to the outside of the bird. The butter will get cold and hard the instant it touches the cold chicken so just smear it on as best as possible, sprinkling the herbs on the skin and massaging the butter in (both sides, don’t forget to flip your bird!).

Stuff the cavity with the reserved, quartered onion and tie the legs together.

Place the bird, breast side up, on top fo the veggies in pan, like so;

Now, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock to the pan, you can add more if it absorbed.

I you have one, place a ovenproof thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh (where it connects to the rest of the chicken) and set it for 160 degrees.

Now, uhm, wait!

Every 1/2 hour or so, bast the bird, adding more broth as needed.

To reach a temperature of 160 degrees, for a 4 1/2 lb bird (which is what mine was), this should take about 2 – 2 1/2 hours but make SURE it’s 160 degrees at the thickest part!

NOTE: most references will tell you to cook poultry to an internal temp of 165 but as ours will rest, tented, the temp will continue to rise.

Well hello beautiful!

NOW, don’t forget! Remove to a platter and tent with foil. Let sit about 15 minutes before carving and sinking your teeth into it.

I like to remove the pan drippings, strain them and make gravy with it but that’s a tutorial for another day.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little walk through and my that scary, red/see through hands didn’t frighten you too much.

Stay tuned for the wow inducing cake that went along with this meal – Yellow Cake with Raspberry Orange Zest Filling and Homemade Whipped Cream Frosting – it’s not to be missed!

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Lindsey @ trail to train

I'm a (somewhat) normal girl with slightly unusal ideas about everything. I do fitness my way because thats the only way I know how and my extensive mishmashed knowledge of food and cooking to make great, fast, healthy meals.